Zhang Shu rehearses the modern Peking Opera The Red Lantern.[Photo/China Today]

Gaining Popularity Overseas

In 2004, Zhang was invited by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra to cooperate on a production of Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy featuring an all-foreign cast. The only Chinese member was the conductor.

“It was a huge task for the non-native performers to learn the play since they found it hard to understand the rhythm, and to play with the correct accents and strengths. But within 10 days, they began to better understand the performance styles.”

Zhang explained that the singing proved the hardest challenge for Western learners of Peking Opera since the parts of the chest, throat and nasal cavity used in Peking Opera singing are vastly different from those used for Western singing.

In bringing Peking Opera to foreigners, Zhang has also been instrumental in helping his compatriots abroad gain better access to Peking Opera. Bai Zhenghua was once Zhang’s star pupil and went on to become president of the NYJPW Chinese American Arts & Culture Association. After completing her studies with Zhang, Ms. Bai gave successful performances in Beijing, including one in support of the Chinese capital’s bid for the Olympic Games. The performance of Orphan of the House of Tcho by the NYJPW Chinese American Arts & Culture Association at the New Victory Theater in 2003 will go down in history.

In his years of overseas experience, Zhang has encountered many Peking Opera enthusiasts hailing from Taiwan. They are eager to learn, but professional teachers are scarce. “This is where my team can help,” Zhang said. He and his U.S. group have had over 20 Taiwanese apprentices. He spent his time traveling between several eastern cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Boston, three times a week, to teach.

Back on the Home Stage

In 2004, Zhang invited his prestigious masters Ma Changli and Tan Xiaozeng to the U.S. to perform.

Zhang had always had a good rapport with his masters. Ma treated Zhang as his own son and they lived together for five years while Zhang was learning the art of Peking Opera.

When Zhang decided to pursue his opera dream abroad, Ma couldn’t quite understand why. But when he saw how hard his apprentice worked to practice and perform on foreign soil, he came to realize the importance of Zhang’s move. Nevertheless, Zhang admitted that the biggest challenge for him as a folk Chinese opera artist was that he could not make a living on performance alone. The question to stay or not to stay played on his mind and heart.

“I was eager to introduce Peking Opera to Americans to enhance cultural exchanges between China and the U.S., but it’s easier said than done. There is no regular audience and, therefore, no profitable market as there is in China’s mainland.”

While living in New York, Zhang’s favorite TV channel was CCTV11. Whenever Zhang watched recordings of plays by the Beijing Peking Opera Theater, he felt stirrings in his heart. “I was once one of them.”

Zhang achieved fame in the U.S., but it was a transitory feeling for him. “Every year or so, I was involved in one big production. I relished the applause from the audience and would take several curtain calls. It was a thrill, but it was always over too soon and I’d have to wait such a long time for the next opportunity.”

In 2010, attracted by the increasingly matured Peking Opera market in China, Zhang decided to venture back on the home stage. He successfully passed the exam and returned to his beloved Beijing Peking Opera Theatre – a global brand then.

Soon, Zhang took the lead in several plays such as Orphan of the House of Tcho, The Dragon and the Phoenix, and Tongrentang. His masterpiece was as the main villain character Diao Deyi in the famous opera Shajiabang.

Today, aged 55, Zhang still performs vigorously on the stage and his fan base continues to grow. At the beginning of this year, Zhang returned to the U.S. on tour with his theater and was “welcomed home” by his fans in Los Angeles and Atlanta. “ Peking Opera enthusiasts are everywhere,” said Zhang proudly.